Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Guru kami menjelaskan aturan baru di kelas debat. - Our teacher explains the new rules in the debate class.

guru – teacher
kami – we / our (exclusive “we”, not including the listener)
guru kami – our teacher (literally teacher we; Indonesian puts the possessor after the noun)
menjelaskan – to explain
- root: jelas (clear)
- with prefix me- and suffix -kan → menjelaskan (to make something clear, i.e. to explain), a transitive verb taking a direct object
aturan – rule(s), regulation(s)
baru – new
- aturan baru – new rules (adjective baru comes after the noun)
di – in, at, on (location preposition)
kelas – class
debat – debate
- kelas debat – debate class (a noun–noun combination: class (of) debate)
di kelas debat – in the debate class

Structure:

Subject: Guru kami (our teacher)
Verb: menjelaskan (explained / explains)
Object: aturan baru (the new rules)
Adverbial phrase: di kelas debat (in the debate class)

Why is kami used here instead of kita? What’s the difference?

Indonesian distinguishes two kinds of we / our:

kami – we / our excluding the person being spoken to
→ “we (but not you)”
kita – we / our including the person being spoken to
→ “you and I / all of us”

In guru kami, the speaker is saying our teacher in a way that does not include the listener:

Guru kami: our teacher (but not yours) – for example, classmates talking to someone from another school.
If the teacher is also the listener’s teacher, you would more naturally say guru kita: our (shared) teacher.

So kami here signals that the group that “owns” the teacher does not necessarily include the person being spoken to.

Why is it guru kami for “our teacher” and not something like kami guru?

In Indonesian, possession is typically expressed by putting:

possessed noun + possessor

So:

guru kami = teacher we → our teacher
rumah saya = house I → my house
buku mereka = book they → their book

Putting kami before guru (kami guru) does not mean our teacher. It would instead sound like:

we (are) teachers or we, the teachers (and even then you’d usually use kami para guru or kami, para guru for clarity).

So the normal and correct way to say our teacher is guru kami (or guru kita, if inclusive).

Why is aturan baru “new rules” and not baru aturan?

Indonesian adjective order is usually:

noun + adjective

So:

aturan baru – new rules
baju merah – red shirt
mobil besar – big car
film menarik – interesting movie

Putting the adjective first (baru aturan) is not grammatical in standard Indonesian. In everyday language, you very rarely move adjectives before the noun, and when you do (mainly in fixed expressions or poetry), it sounds stylized or archaic.

So aturan baru is the normal, neutral way to say new rules.

How do we know this means “explained” (past) and not “explains” or “is explaining”? Indonesian doesn’t mark tense, right?

Correct: Indonesian verbs generally do not change form for tense. Menjelaskan by itself just means to explain; it’s neutral about time.

The English tense (explained / explains / is explaining / will explain) is inferred from:

Context and time words:
- tadi – earlier
- kemarin – yesterday
- nanti – later
- sekarang – now
Or the surrounding narrative.

So, depending on context, the sentence could be translated as:

Our teacher explains the new rules in the debate class.
Our teacher explained the new rules in the debate class.
Our teacher is explaining the new rules in the debate class.

If you want to make it clearly past, you can add a time adverb:

Tadi guru kami menjelaskan aturan baru di kelas debat.
Earlier, our teacher explained the new rules in the debate class.

What is the difference between jelas and menjelaskan? Why do we need menjelaskan here?

jelas is an adjective: clear, obvious
- Penjelasannya jelas. – The explanation is clear.
menjelaskan is a verb: to explain, to make clear
- Guru kami menjelaskan aturan baru. – Our teacher explains / explained the new rules.

Pattern:

jelas (clear) → menjelaskan (to make something clear → to explain)

In this sentence we need an action verb (what the teacher does), so menjelaskan is the correct form, not jelas.

You could also use a near-synonym like menerangkan, but menjelaskan is very common and neutral.

What does di contribute here, and what’s the nuance of di kelas debat?

di is a preposition of location, usually translated as in / at / on depending on context.

di kelas debat literally: at / in the debate class.

Nuance:

It tells you where the explaining happened – in the setting of the debate class.
It does not say that the rules belong to the debate class; it just says the explanation took place there.

Indonesian also has other prepositions for similar situations:

pada – more formal, often for abstract locations (in writing, in an event, etc.)
dalam – inside, within

But for a physical or scheduled class, di kelas debat is the most natural, everyday choice.

Is kelas debat a fixed term like “debate class”, or just “class of debate”? Could we say kelas perdebatan instead?

kelas debat is a normal noun + noun construction:

kelas – class
debat – debate
kelas debat – debate class / class (about) debate

This kind of noun–noun phrase is very common:

kelas musik – music class
kelas bahasa Inggris – English class
kelas matematika – math class

kelas perdebatan is grammatically possible, but:

perdebatan is more like a debate / debating (as an event or process).
kelas perdebatan might sound more like a class about a specific debate / debates and is not the usual way people name school clubs or subjects.

For a school subject, club, or activity, kelas debat is the natural, simple term.

If I want to say “our teacher explained the new rules of the debate class” (rules that belong to that class), not “in the debate class”, how would I say that?

To show that the rules belong to the debate class, it’s clearer to use untuk (for) or a noun phrase link, not just di.

Good options:

Guru kami menjelaskan aturan baru untuk kelas debat.
Our teacher explained the new rules for the debate class.
Guru kami menjelaskan aturan-aturan baru kelas debat.
Our teacher explained the debate class’s new rules. (can sound a bit compact; untuk is clearer)

The original:

Guru kami menjelaskan aturan baru di kelas debat.
Focus: location – the explanation happened during/in the debate class.

The modified:

… aturan baru untuk kelas debat.
Focus: the rules are specifically for that debate class.

Can the word order change? For example, can I say Di kelas debat, guru kami menjelaskan aturan baru?

Yes. Indonesian allows fairly flexible placement of location phrases like di kelas debat.

All of these are grammatical and natural:

Guru kami menjelaskan aturan baru di kelas debat.
– Neutral; location goes at the end.
Di kelas debat, guru kami menjelaskan aturan baru.
– Puts emphasis on the setting: In the debate class, our teacher explained the new rules.
Guru kami di kelas debat menjelaskan aturan baru.
– Also possible, but this can be read as “our teacher in the debate class” (e.g., contrasting different teachers in different classes). Context decides.

The most neutral, everyday version is the original sentence with di kelas debat at the end.

Could guru kami menjelaskan aturan baru di kelas debat also be understood as “our teacher explains the new rules in debate class” (habitually)? How would you show that habitual meaning?

Yes, without extra context the sentence is time-neutral and can be understood as:

one-time past event (explained), or
general/habitual action (explains as a routine).

To make the habitual meaning clearer, you can add adverbs of frequency or time:

Setiap minggu, guru kami menjelaskan aturan baru di kelas debat.
Every week, our teacher explains new rules in the debate class.
Biasanya, guru kami menjelaskan aturan baru di kelas debat.
Usually, our teacher explains the new rules in the debate class.
Dalam kelas debat, guru kami selalu menjelaskan aturan baru.
In debate class, our teacher always explains the new rules.